High lift airfoil system



Oct. 15, 1957 D. K. vwmfemzpz HIGH LIFT AIRFOI'L SYSTEM Original FiledJuly 22, 1947 IN VEN TOR United States arent y O HIGH LIFT AIRFOILSYSTEM Douglas K. Warner, Sarasota, Fla.

Original application July 22, 1947, Serial No. 762,631. Divided and thisapplication December 3, 1951, Serial No. 259,623

1 Claim. (Cl. 244-42) This application is a division of applicationSerial No. 762,631, filed July 22, 1947, now Patent No. 2,631,794.

This invention relates to means for greatly increasing wing lift withoutincrease in power, to means for permitting safe landings with such loadswithout landing runways, to means for extending laminar ow on the uppersurface of a wing and to maintaining as high air velocity over thetrailing portion of the wing as over the forward portion for equalvacuum lift, and to creating higher air pressure therebeneath, and tofurnishing a new-type, eilicient, pressure propulsion.

This invention also permits stabilization in high flight of'a wing whichat start of takeoff is almost entirely supported by air pressure beneathit.

One object is to permit diffusion of air entering the top surface of thewing where the maximum air velocity has normally started to diminish butin this case has been slightly increased by suction created bypropulsion fans carried by the wing so that the air contacting theblades of the propulsion fans will have low enough velocity to preventsonic speed over those blades and so extending laminar flow and avoidingthe low efficiency of supersonic propeller blades.

Another object is to eject a thin layer of air over the trailing portionof the wing at abnormally high velocity to maintain the same highsuction lift normallyonly found over the forward half of the wing.

Another object is to diffuse most of the air handled by the fans anddischarge it under pressure below4 the rear'portion of the wing where itincreases the pressure normally found at this lower location and furtherVadds to the rearwardly located lifts to keep the center of pressure inhigh Vilight rearward of mid chord as it must be during the takeoff runclose to a surface. This increased pressure on the upwardly sloping rearunder surface provides anew type of pressure propulsion which is muchmore efficient than jet reaction propulsion or propeller propulsion, andit also doubles the wing lift without reduction in critical speed of thewing since it does not depend on increased maximum air velocities.

It improves on the plane shown in my Patent 2,444,318 in that a largenumber of fans are now used inside the rear portion of the wing acrossits full span which suck in air rearward of mid chord over the topsurface and discharge most of the air under high pressure below the wingand a small amount at high velocity through a rearwardly directed slotabove the wing, both discharge openings being far back to give the addedlift on both surfaces a far rearward location, needed for stability.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a cross-section view of the mainwing of the plane showing its starboard runner in the background.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the whole plane and Fig.V 3 a rear viewthereof.

The upper portion of Fig. 1 comprises a thick airfoil l such as NACA644-621 designated by numeral 1. This airfoil is characterized by alarge leading edge radius "ice and higher drag than the 66 seriesthinner airfoils but its large radius permits a lower'flap 11 to behinged at 13 forward of the center of curvature 14 whereby when 11 hasbeen forced down and forwardly by piston 31 in cylinder 32 which is fedas required with compressed air from transverse pipe 30 the normallyforwardgedge of flap 11 is above the top surface/portion 28 of wing 1which is hinged at 14 and whereby slots are formed over the top surfaceat 12a and at 29 which permit the high pressure air under 1 to leave athigh velocity over Yits top surface and so give a forwardly located liftover the top surface while the plane is skimming close to a surface orslowing down at a 45 non-stall attack angle.

A slot 2 rearward of the normal terminus ofi laminar llow on the topsurface provides with cowlings 15 an opening having the rearwardlyincreasing cross-sectional area of passage 16 leading to airstraightening blades 1S and the fan blades, distinguished when down, by3, Athrowing air (which is slowed and increased in pressure bydiffusion) to beneath the wing and when up by 4 Where they throw airrearwardly over the top surface of'wingl in passage 19 having decreasingarea rearwardly to give near sonic air velocity above the trailingportioniof the 'wing Depressions 17 are formed inthe top surface of thewing forwardly of fan blades 3 andV 4 and part thereof arebeneathcowlings 15 so forming the diffuser passage 16. Y

A rear lower flap 7 is depressed by compressed air in pipe 10 owing tocylinders 9 and acting onA pistons 8; and runners 6 extend down from thelateral tips of wing 1 closely adjacent the lateral edges of iiaps 7 and11 whereby the compressed air under the wing may escape only from slots12A and 29 over the leading edge of the wing and its fore part whenclose to a lower` sea orV land surface where a forwardly located lift isneeded..-V

The pistons 31 act at spindles 35 thru connecting rods 33 on arms 34 thelatter being pivoted at 62 on the plane, and at 43 on one end of arm36,*the other end being pivoted at 37 in flap 11 where flap 12 is alsopivoted to form a swinging extension of flap 11 to move-up and down overirregular surfaces such as Waves on the sea.

Air pressure under the wing would press flap 12andy roller 41 too hardagainst the surface werethis flap not restrained by air pressure incylinders 38 acting on pistons 40. The wire 42 limits the travel of arm34 downwardly so that arms 34 and 36 may not form a straight line and soresist the pressure on them if a high wave should hit the bottom of 11which must move `back with wave contact. When retracted, flaps 11 and 12form the under surface of the wings forward portion with pivot 37 now at64 and. ,roller-41at 41A, The-latter is also shown over a wave trough at41B in dottedV lines.

To enhance pressure under the wing in high flight plates 60 and 44 aresuspended under the wing by struts 45 and end plates 6 to formdiffusers, increasing air pressure adjacent the wing skin. Similarplates S9 are spaced from wall 5 of fan diffusers to add propulsivethrust against that wall 5.

Since landing at a 45 attack angle involves a steep and rapid descentpath, the trailing edge of runners 6 would hit the ground very hard ifthe shock were not cushioned by wheels 20 supported by arms 23 pivotedat 24 within said runners and by piston 21 within air cylinder 22. Oncontact the plane swivels down on its air cushion.

' Further aids to stability and control are front stabilizer floats 47having at their forwardly located tips aileron elevators 46 pivoted attheir 1A chord point. Stabilizers l47 have a higher attack angle thanwing 1 while-rear troughs over which propellers 51 and 52, 25 and 26turn. These are operated by engines 55 in pods supported beneath thetips of upper stub wings 49 and by airfoil struts.53. Propeller bladesturn upwardly in front of struts53 and stub wings 49 giving increasedlift from blades which may now be close to the wing since there is nodamaging effect from down currents behind the blades moving down wherethere is no wing. This permits lighter frame and pods and adds aKatzmaier elect of alternate ilow direction to the highly eicient liftbehind upward moving blades.

These propellers, mounted over the rear stabilizer wings, also form ahigh velocity air stream vover the in- Side surface of tail tins 4S sothat even at zero plane velocity this plane has complete directionalstability and that with tail tins of less than normal size because theair velocityover their inside surfaces is always extremely high beingadjacent the path of the propeller tips and since they are assisted bythe side walls of housings 54 subject to similar high air velocity atslow plane speed.

The rear flaps 7 like the trailing edge 12 of front flap 11 are dividedso that some may rise higher than others to conform with variation insurface below.

The slot 29 is gradually increased in opening as starting speedincreases to prevent the center of pressure moving rearwardly. This andthe new added rear lift permits stability with the same center ofgravity in ight as at takeol with much greater aspect ratio than ispossible with my designs in Patents 2,444,318 and 2,559,036.

Control of this plane diiers from that of conventional planes wheredepression of a port aileron to bank for a right turn, turns the craftto the left so requiring a larger rudder and more drag. Here theswiveling front elevators have nothing ahead of them to disturb airflowand are normally set at zero lift instead of the usual negative lift ofrear elevators. To bank for right turn the leading edge of the rightelevator is tipped down increasing its drag and causing the .plane toturn nght without need of any rudder.

Runways are not required for takeoif and landing because instead ofconcentrating the plane load at small spots at the base of wheels it isspread over the whole surface beneath the wing. The long takeol runrequired should have most of its length over shallow water where thedrag is much less than that due to tires on foot thick concrete pavementand where the runway cannot be destroyed by sneak attacks before wardeclarations. A very quick stop can be made in the water if the rearflap is raised and it may then be lowered together with the front ilapto hop up onto the beach. After unloading, the plane can hop up, againswiveling about face with the aid of its rear wing propellers, and thenreload and skim out over the water again, rising after attaining 300 M.P. H.

Numeral 56 indicates the location of the engines driving fan blades 3and 4 and 57, a diffuser, taking air from said blades for its firststage of supercharge and S8 is a slot from which the engine exhaustejects rearwardly above the rear surface assisting the jet from fanblades in creating rear lift and reaction propulsion.

Gun turrets 52A are, shown above stub wings 49 in line with thepropellers 25 and 26 so permitting firing in all directions exceptstraight to the side.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

An aircraft including an airfoil member having depressions formed in thetrailing portion of its upper surface rearwardly of the chord midpointand conduits extending downwardly and rearwardly through said memberfrom said depressions to the lower surface of said member, the crosssectional area of said conduits increasing gradually from saiddepressions to said lower surface, and said depressions and conduitsextending across the full span of said airfoil member, and fan meansincluding rotary blades mounted within said member, said blades duringoperation of said fan means describing rotor discs extending across theupper ends of said conduits and above said upper surface, said fan meansbeing arranged to irnpel streams of air downwardly and rearwardlythrough said conduits and also rearwardly over the trailing edge portionof said upper surface, whereby high air velocity and suction ismaintained over all the trailing upper surface where normally downwardair pressure exists and whereby the normally high air pressure conditionbelow the trailing portion is increased by diffusion of high velocityair in said passages having gradually increasing area.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,755,342 Tissot Apr. 22, 1930 1,801,356 Loveland Apr. 21, 19311,879,618 Icre Sept. 27, 1932 1,957,896 Marguglio May 8, 1934 2,077,471Fink Apr. 20, 1937 2,142,123 Fahrney lan. 3, 1939 2,147,360 Zaparka Feb.14, 1939 2,241,521 Richard May 13, 1941 2,272,661 Finley Feb. 10, 19422,364,677 Warner Dec. 12, 1944 2,444,318 Warner June 29, 1948 2,469,619Warner May 10, 1949 2,559,036 Warner July 3, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 22,286France Dec. 30, 1920 488,942 Great Britain July 18, 1938 586,496 GermanyOct. 2l, 1933 652,942 Great Britain May 2, 1951 719,406 Germany Apr. 7,1942

